You've Got the Wrong Max!
by Jorkier
Summary: Dear Dia- I mean, Journal. My name is Max Ringquist. Not Max Steel, not Max McGrath, and not whoever else is Max. I am me, I am unique, and this is really starting to sound like a self-acceptance monologue. Whatever- point is, whoever up there is in control of souls and stuff clearly didn't get the message. So... here I am. Me but not me. Signed, Me. (Mild language and cursing.)
1. Chapter 1

Normally, when I would hear the annoying screeching of my alarm, I'd feel pissed. However, today I only felt a deep sated vindication.

After blindly fumbling around for a moment, I wrapped my hands around the pseudo-baseball.

"Die!"

The alarm gave one last pitiful crackle before it shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor.

"_Max_! Your birthday is tomorrow! Not today!"

The shout from downstairs was enough to put my tired mind into motion, just now processing what I had done. I looked at the now very much broken clock with a wince. '_Shite_.'

My mom arrived at the door, trusty broom in hand. "A bit eager are we, chip?"

"_Mom,_ not funny." I groaned.

...I probably shouldn't have said that, as Mom's patent frown appeared on her face. "Having to

buy a new alarm clock every year isn't funny for me or my _wallet_, little man."

My frown turned into an unsure smile. "Heh, uh, sorry?"

Mom gave an amused snort. "I don't think you're all that sorry."

My smile turned into a smirk. "Hey, it deserves it after tormenting me for 21 months with that goddamn tune."

She ruefully shook her head. "Really, it's a waste of money. Now," She tossed the broom to me. I caught it with the roll of my eyes. "Clean up this mess before heading down." Then she waltzed out the door. "Don't be late! I've got pancakes!"

"I won't!" As I got to work, I continued under my breath. "...Probably."

After that, I slipped into a New Jersey t shirt and some sweats and walked downstairs. "Not late!"

Mom glanced at the clock while flipping a pancake and huffed. "Barely."

"'Barely' is good enough for me." I said as I snagged a pancake from the person-sized pancake pile by Mom. I properly prepped the pancake with butter and syrup, then ate it at the table.

All conversation died off, leaving just me, my pancakes, and my thoughts for a few minutes…

"I wish Benny was here."

Said thoughts were deleted from my mind at that sentence. I… couldn't say anything to that, so I stayed quiet.

"I keep expecting him to walk through here like nothing happened." Mom continued. Her back was towards me, but her tone told all the emotion that she showed on her face. She quivered slightly. She was probably crying, "Then I'd walk downstairs and try and find him sitting on his computer like normal, but-" Mom cut herself off, leaving the silence to hang like a noose.

Guilt squeezed at my numbed heart. "Yeah…"

"I dreamed about him last night."

'_Of course you did.'_ I didn't get enough sleep to dream.

"He wasn't on the bike, but he was getting off the bus." She wiped the tears from her eyes, turning to me. Her eyes were slightly red. '_So she was crying then.'_ "I was there, standing right in front of him when _it _happened." Her eyes welled up with tears. "I-It was so vivid! I couldn't do anything about it and-and I-"

I couldn't listen to this anymore. I walked away from my pancakes and hugged my mother, "Shh… Stop talking…" There were a few moments of silence, allowing mom to let out her tears before she regained her composure. "Hey, let's be positive, yeah?" I gave her a shaky smile, "Tomorrow's my birthday, so let's go do something fun."

"Heh," My mom gave me a weak smile. "Could we play some golf?"

I playfully grimaced as we split. "You know I hate golf. Only sloths play that."

I wasn't expecting her to nearly fall over from laughter. "Mom? It wasn't even funny."

"J-Just let me laugh bucko."

It was a sad, sad laugh.

* * *

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. It wasn't as though I had any friends at school, which was fine with me. The only thing that kept me from slipping into boredom was my song writing. I was so close to finishing my latest song and I couldn't wait to share it with my mom.

Coming home was nothing new - eat dinner, play the guitar, maybe even try to sketch a bit. "Try" being the key word.

As I was doodling to the best of my ability (which wasn't much), I heard a knock on my door. "Come in mom. You don't need to knock."

It opened. "Sorry, Max, it's habit." My mom came in, hands behind her back. She was still wearing her work clothes, the words "Tira Ringquist" printed on a pin in neat scrawl. "Just wanted to check up on you. How was school?"

"Boring, easy, and a great place to do anything but learn."

Mom easily noticed my crappy sketch. "Oooh, what did you draw this time? A dinosaur?"

I gave her a deadpan look as I showed her it. "Does this _look_ like a dinosaur to you?"

She shrugged. "If it is, that is one human-like' dino. What is it then?"

"I found an old show on Netflix called Max Steel." I grinned. I was just getting into the world of Superhero cartoons, and, as I discovered, this show was a great way to start. Plus, there were tons of superhero shows everywhere! I didn't think I was going to run out anytime soon. "This," I pointed at the smaller figure, "is Steel and this," I pointed at the somewhat human-looking one, "is Max. It was actually kinda funny when they came up with their superhero name."

Mom raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

I gave a smile, "It was during an interview and they just both said their names. The interviewer took it and ran with it." I turned back to my sketch. I was pretty proud of the stance, as bad at art as I may be. "It was pretty clever on the script writers' part."

"You're right." My mom gave a similar smile. "That is pretty clever." That smile faded somewhat, "Listen, Maxwell," I turned back to my mom at my full name, a confused look on my face. She seemed… uncomfortable? "I have something to give you that I should have given you a long time ago."

"Don't tell me - it's a pendant from my dad that will give me some kind of power or something." I said sarcastically. Mom blinked twice, looked down at the _pendant in her hands wait what the fu-_

"I… don't _think _it can do that, but you're right when you said it was from your father." She looked at me curiously, "How did you know?"

"I-It's a superhero cliche, just, ah, give it to me."

I just about snatched it from her shaking hands before I saw the vulnerable look on her face.

Guiltily, I took it slowly from her.

It was a silver pendant with a light blue gem in the center of it. It looked… normal. Extremely average. '_Yeah, as if this would give me powers.'_

"I guess it was the hate I felt towards him that kept me from giving this to you, but after what happened to Benny…" She hesitantly continued, "I felt that I would regret not giving this to you. It was a part of him, and no matter what he did, he was still your father." Mom got down to my level, put the pendant on me then gave me a hug. "I want you to have all the relationships you can have in this world, Maxwell. Please don't take what you have for granted."

"I-" The words were caught in my throat. "I won't. I promise." I gave a tearful smile.

She pulled back and gave me a smile. "That's my strong boy."

Of course, I took her for granted.

_I took it all for granted._

* * *

The first that woke me up was an alarm. An alarm that I chucked across the room without a thought, then returned to hopefully go back to bed. It was my birthday - I was allowed to do crap like that today.

"Max?! Maxwell, what was that?!"

An unfamiliar voice was calling my name, but I didn't have enough energy to care.

"Max, you better tell me what's wrong or I'm coming in!"

Now that I thought about it, I knew this voice. Kinda. Not really. Not enough to want to move.

"That's it!"

There was a loud bang that had me falling out of my bed, "What the-?!"

"Maxwell McGrath, why on earth is your alarm in a million pieces?!"

"Threw it." I grunted, rolling into a cocoon from the blanket that fell with me. It was so warm…

"You threw it?! Why?!"

"'s noisy."

There was a pause before the lady began again. "You'll have to clean this up after school." She sighed, "Now get dressed, it's your first day."

I just gave her a huff. Why did she have to be so _loud?_

The door closed, leaving me irritated. Now there was no way I was going to be able to get back to bed. '_Who was that?'_

_Mom._

'_What?'_

_Mom._

'_That's not my mom.'_

_Mom._

The feeling of remembrance and familiarity got stronger. I didn't even know that woman, _so what the hell?!_

Deciding that listening to an imaginary voice wasn't worth time over, I sat up.

Then laid back down, bewildered.

_This isn't my room._

'_Home.'_

_Shut up._

I didn't expect _memories_ to hit me full force. _Waving goodbye to friends at the street corner. I wish we didn't have to move again. New school, but same old same old. Try and fight the local bully and I somehow won? I don't wanna make new friends - we're just gonna move again anyway. I hate the orange color of my room - who even likes this kind of orange? Mom burnt herself making grilled-cheese again, except it was on the new grill. Shoulda just ordered takeout from that chinese place down the block._

These weren't my memories.

_What the fuck._

After staring at the _-obnoxiously orange- _wall for a solid minute, I laughed, a hand covering my mouth to keep it from getting too loud.

_Truly, what the fuck._

Something cold against my chest took me out of my spiralling revenue. I reached down and picked it up, only to let out a pitiful snort.

The pendant's blue gem shone innocently in my hand.

The _goddamn necklace._

Of fucking course it would bring me to a new universe or something.

"Max, are you still sleeping?!"

"N-No Mom! I'm awake!" The words felt so natural, but the voice itself was completely different from my own. A cold chill went down my spine. '_No, please tell me I'm not someone else. That's impossible. Like, superhero-movie-logic impossible.'_

I stemmed my rising panic with that common sense. '_Someone doesn't just wake up as someone else. That would be -again- fucking impossible.'_

I tried to get up, but all my rushing emotions made my knees weak. I barely managed to grab the bed's headrest before I fell. '_Okay… this is new.'_ Like a I'm-going-to-ignore-everything-strange kind of new. '_Yeah, this is fine. Totally fine.'_

'_Okay Max, one step at a time. One, two, one, two - whoa, okay, you don't remember being born with two right feet, so just walk Max!'_

It took admittedly longer than I would have admitted, but I finally got to the wardrobe, as there was no mirror inside of the room. I wasn't just going to go out there in boxer briefs with some _-admittedly familiar-_ woman out there!

I opened it only to fight another wave of panic at the wardrobe.

There was a well known fact about me; I never wore jeans. They were itchy, tight, and overall just a literal pain in the ass..

This wardrobe had, not just the one pair of jeans I hid somewhere, but about ten pairs!

_Don'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaintDon'tfaint-_

"Max, hurry it up! You're going to be late!"

"A-ah, okay!"

I whipped on the jeans, a regular t shirt, and one of the sweatshirts - if only for the pockets they had - then was out the door.

The house had two stories _-we needed the extra room for some reason. Mom never told me why-_ and had some stairs to connect them. If these… _memories _served right, the bathroom was right across from the room I just left (which is totally not _my _room). I nearly ran into it, closing the door with an unnecessarily loud thud.

I looked away from where I knew the mirror was.

This was it. If… if I really _wasn't_, well _me_, then it would show in the mirror… '_Max, stop hyperventilating, it's just a mirror and __**oh my god no fucking way.'**_

_Maxwell McGrath_ looked right back at me.

(owo)/

_Hey, hey, I would just like to say that this story has been in the making for a long time and, admittedly, I have never been the best at starting off a story, so there will be an improvement in quality over the story's time. _

_If anyone has any ideas for where it could go (Other than __inappropriate comments. Please keep those to yourself and not on my comments section. Thanks.) I would really appreciate it. I've never been a stickler for staying on canon, so this plot will wind up in some weird places. _

_Also, this story takes a bit before Steel comes in. Please keep that in mind._

_-Jorkier._


	2. Chapter 2

I drew my hand hesitantly up to the mirror, with 'Maxwell' doing the same.

'_Nope.'_

'_Nope.'_

'_Nope.'_

'Maxwell' looked as if he had seen a ghost. Well, I guess he had.

Or, _I _had.

"Max? Are you feeling okay?" I froze, still staring at the mirror. "Max, why is the door locked?"

"I-" I had to force the lie out or this _woman _would get suspicious. "I-I'm sick! Didn't want to get you, erm, sick too."

"Oh, well I'll get some soup ready for you. It'll be in the kitchen. How exactly are you feeling?"'

"Faint." I really was - oh god _why was I Max from Max Steel I don't understand_. "And… I'm looking kinda pale. I think."

"On your first day too. That's too bad; I knew you were looking forward to it for weeks now."

I gave a broken smile. "Heh, I would go if I were able." I didn't like the way the expression looked on 'Maxwell's face, so I stopped.

"I'll get that soup ready, then I have to go to work. Be sure to get lots of sleep, Max."

Her footsteps led away from the bathroom door, leaving me in silence, staring at an impossibility.

'_How is this possible.'_

I placed my hands on the sink counter, leaning in to… inspect my image. Same jaw, same hair, same...oh my god, were his- _my_ eyes _glowing?!_

After a brief second I discovered that, no, my eyes don't glow. Thank god.

'_On second thought… Should I try to make them glow?' _I mean, I was Max from frickin Max Steel. '_Didn't his eyes glow from energon? No wait, wrong franchise, I mean TURBO energy? Didn't he produce it?'_

I looked down at my hands in fear.

'_Do- Do I make TURBO energy?'_

I glanced back up at the mirror only to stifle a scream.

'_**HOLY FUCK MY EYES ARE GLOWING OH MY FUCKING GOD-' **_

Just before I was going to have a panic attack, the blue glow faded, leaving only wide baby blue eyes behind.

I whimpered, staring at the mirror. "_Fuck me_."

* * *

Since looking at my reflection wasn't doing my psyche any good, I went back to my room. Looking it over again, there wasn't much to look at. A simple bed, with simple walls - _never could buy any posters. Mom said they would be silly to constantly bring around_ \- and a simple desk. However, what McGrath didn't cover in furniture, he covered with clothes and, most importantly, stinky socks. '_Great_.'

I flopped onto the bed, mind numb.

'_Maybe it's all just a dream.' _A nervous smile spread across my face. '_Yeah - just too much MaxSteel over the weekend. I'll just wake up and everything will be normal again. Yeahhhhhh.'_

I fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

I woke up.

I right about screamed when I saw the obnoxious orange color of the ceiling stare right back at me.

I wrapped my arms around my body, pulling myself into a tight ball as I closed my eyes. "I give up." I whispered, tears on the edges of my eyes.

'_I'm Maxwell McGrath now.'_

'_Wow, that sounded like it came out of a fanfiction…'_

'_...This probably could probably be a fanfiction for how utterly bizarre and impossible all this is.'_

A glint from the corner of my vision caught my attention. Sun reflected off of the glass cup on the nearby table and into my eye. Squinting slightly, I can see there is a letter alongside it.

_There's soup in the microwave if you're hungry and I got you some water once you wake up. We'll see how you are when I get home from work._

_I hope you get better, Max!_

I felt like a fraud. Here was this hardworking mom - _Molly McGrath, holy crap, that was her! _\- thinking that everything was fine - _was normal_ \- and I had to go and _bodysnatch _her _friggin son._

'_No…'_

I grabbed out my pendant. I squeezed it hard, just the barest of blue wisps tingling my fingers.

'_This thing did.' _

I stopped just before I thought I would break it, hesitant. '_If this thing brought me here… it's best I keep it. Might be able to bring me… back.' _Sighing, I let it go, the pendant lightly thudding against my chest.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we both have the same name." I muttered, voice dry, then immediately stopped talking and drank some of the provided water. '_Okay, I am so not going to get used to hearing that voice.'_

Deciding that it was better to go do something rather than just thinking about my predicament any longer, I finally got off of the bed. I took one look at the note, sighed, then made my way to the door.

I hesitated.

'_Just accept it.'_ I thought to myself, '_What's happening to you isn't a dream - it's reality. You…' _I winced. '_...can't change that.'_

I took a deep breath.

And opened the door.

* * *

The first thing I noticed walking down the stairs was my sudden height. I had never been the tallest boy, but Max was quite a bit taller than I was. It made walking more difficult than I would have liked. My forehead somehow managed to hit the board above the last step!

I avoided the soup prepared by . I wasn't actually her son, so I couldn't possibly accept that. Instead, since I had the entire rest of the day left, I binged Netflix mindlessly.

Somehow, at that time I was able to come to terms with who I was. I was Max McGrath, who would soon become _Max Steel_, the **defender of Earth and the Universe**… '_Who am I kidding, I can't do that.'_

"_You're the coolest, bro!"_

'_...Of course, Benny would think so.' _

The memory unravelled itself easily in front of my eyes.

"_And why is that?" I asked, reclining back on a chair as Benny kicked a ball across the living room in front of me._

_Benny scrunched his face in thought. "Well… You're strong, fast, and," He gave a huge grin, "the most awesome brother ever!"_

_The little ball of sunshine gave a big kick, but missed the ball entirely. "Woh!"_

_I had leapt to his aid. "Benny! I've- oof!" Benny landed on my back, "I've got you."_

_Benny broke into laughter. "Max would be the best superhero!"_

_I gave an amused sigh as Benny jumped off me. "Sure, whatever you say Ben."_

My heart ached for my younger brother. It wasn't long ago that he had been kicking around that old ball without a care in the world.

I was no hero. _He_ was more than enough evidence as to why.

The door opened behind me and I froze. '_Oh crap nononononono-'_ How did I forget?!

"Max?"

"Ah-er, y-yeah I'm here." I said, trying to make my smile look real enough to fool her.

Molly McGrath peered over the couch. "Hey honey, how are you feeling?"

"M-My nose stopped running and I'm feeling okay." I blurted out.

Either my acting was great _(doubtful)_ or she just didn't pay much attention to me. "Well, I have to go do some errands. I'll be back in an hour."

I gave a nod she didn't see and tried to pay attention to the terrible comedy show I found that I thought Max would have liked. Apparently, neither Molly or Max watched much Netflix. Well, it's not like anyone saw much about them outside of kicking alien butt.

The door closed and I glanced at the clock. It was about 1 o'clock. She'd be coming back at 2…

'_Should I do something?'_

Being Max presented something I could experiment with; Turbo energy. What exactly was it and how could I use it without exploding right now?

'_From what I can tell right now, I don't produce enough Turbo energy to...explode. At least right now. Where exactly am I in the timeline?' _

I frowned. '_No dad, no Copper Canyon… right?' _I double checked my memories, '_Yep, no Copper Canyon. Wait…'_ I checked over them again. '_I'm 15 now?! Oh, come on, I just turned 18!'_

I glared at my feet, '_Why the hell does Max get to be so tall and I don't?'_ I paused for a moment, '_Hold on… technically I am Max McGrath so… fuck yeah!'_ I grinned_. 'I finally get to be tall for once in my life- er, a life!'_

"_What's a hippie's wife? Mississippi! Okay, okay, that was pretty bad, but here's a better one-"_ The sound of the show brought some normalcy back to all of this. After all, dad jokes are the same, no matter what the universe.

"_Do I enjoy making courthouse jokes? Guilty as charged!"_

Sometimes, even the stupidest of things made me chuckle.

"_Hey, stop throwing tomatoes at me!"_

* * *

The next day came faster than I wanted it, meaning one thing.

School.

'_Ugh.'_

"Max, you're not sick anymore, so get out of bed!"

"Alright I'm up."

Picking an outfit was easy - Max never wore anything but jeans and a sweatshirt rolled up to his forearms in the show. Easy.

Before I knew it, I was downstairs at the dinner table, waiting for the normal eggs and toast that I- _Max_\- had every morning. Molly flipped the eggs onto a plate with flourish. "While I may not be great at the grill, I can work the oven like nobody's business." She walked around the counter to give me the plate.

I tried to stay quiet, I really couldn't help but say. "Tell that to Mr. Beastly and he'd have a fit. Remember that?" These memories were pretty friggin useful.

Molly groaned, putting a hand to her face. "Please don't remind me. That's why we left as soon as we did."

I gave a bark of laughter, nearly dropping my toast. "So that was the reason why? I thought it was because his dog kept peeing in our backyard."

Molly grinned and ruffled my hair. She didn't notice me freeze in place from the contact. "Well, that too."

I only relaxed once she took away her hand to go make her own quick breakfast, "S-So, Mom," I winced. '_That's going to be hard getting used to.'_ "What's this new work you were talking about before? I didn't get all the details."

Molly gave a rueful grin. "Well, it's not exactly brand new, but it's THI's Jefferson City branch. Since I did well in the other one, I figured this one would be a piece of cake. Besides," She shook the breakfast shake as she talked, "the pay is amazing and I've heard the school is great."

I huffed, half way through my eggs. "Great, _more_ homework. Why can't you just homeschool me?"

Molly rolled her eyes. "Oh hush, you'll do fine here. It's junior year you need to worry about."

Internally, I was the one to roll _my_ eyes. '_Yeah right. This year will be hard enough.'_ Externally, I tilt my head curiously. "What, did something happen your junior year?"

Molly grimaced, walking to the garage. "Let's… not talk about that."

"What? Mom!" I quickly finished my breakfast, snagged my backpack, then raced out the door after her, smiling widely. "Come on, you need to tell me! _MOM!"_

* * *

My new school was large and had a weird shade of green as one of the school colors for some reason. I judged it silently from inside the car as we pulled up.

Molly must have seen the way I was looking at it because she bopped me gently on the head, "Hey!"

"Staring at the school won't make you get anywhere closer to it. Come on."

"But the green is so weird!"

Molly blinked in surprise, "...What?"

"It's just-" I was going to tell her just why I thought it was a stupid green color, but realized how strange that sounded coming from 'Max' and sighed instead, leaving to get out of the car, "nevermind. Bye mom."

She was rather adept at ignoring weirdness. '_Maybe because she was married to an alien.'_ "Bye honey! Have a good first day at school!"

She drove off, leaving me at this new school and far outside of my comfort zone.

"Ah shit, here we go again." I muttered, shoving my hands deep into my pockets as I started the trek to the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Walking down the halls of Jefferson High School, I couldn't help but look at all the kids. There were all kinds of kids; goths, jocks, nerds, muses, and the outcasts. The separation between groups was more evident and more surprising than I expected from a school of this size. It was larger than my last school - er _Max_'s last school - and certainly was more… Well, I didn't want to call it _colorful_, but it certainly was _something_ of a school.

The best part about all of it was that _no one even looked at me!_

School administration was… helpful enough, but not really enough to be given a 5 star review on Yelp for customer service. Honestly, I thought one of them hated me for some reason, but I don't remember ever seeing her in Max's memories.

'_This whole "Max and Max" thing is confusing.'_

I got my schedule, student ID, and everything else I needed in order to be a proper student, as well as a lengthy lecture from the principal about what to expect, how to behave, and how to look. Of course, I didn't pay attention to it, but I figured that was what it was about.

From there, she pointed me out to my room. Honestly, I would take talking to the helpful principal over the other staff at any time.

It was the first hour, so that meant… Geometry. For the second time in my life. Oh joy.

I opened the door, expecting a completely normal class. Well… From the looks of it, it wasn't completely normal. Unless you think beanbag seats to be the new norm.

"Ah, here is our newest student!" An older man, with frizzy gray hair and large circle glasses scampered to the front of the room, adjusting the large folder he had in his arms as he went, "This is Maxwell McGrath, everyone. He just came from Louisville High and should get a warm welcome to Jefferson!" The short man smiled exuberantly for the class, who were mainly on their phones and ignoring the professor.

All except for one, so it seemed.

"That wimp was the one who whooped Jackson's ass? You've gotta be kidding me." A kid cackled, "What a loser."

'_I can't take a guy in a bean bag seriously. And who is Jackson? I don't re- Wait a minute.'_

"W-well, M-Maxwell," The teacher, once all smiles, suddenly lost all his energy. He even took a step away from me, his eyes tinted with fear. "How about you just find a beanbag? H-Here, I'll even help you!"

I wasn't able to get a word in edgewise before I was pushed over to where the vocal chap sat and then was forced to sit in the seat next to him.

Again, _oh joy._

"How about you and Zach become friends, yes?" He gave a strained faux smile and left for the front of the class again.

'_Did… Did the professor literally throw me to the dogs?' _

"So, your name is Maxwell, ey?" Zach grinned, "I think I'll just call ya chump change, 'cause that's all you're going to be after the second round."

'_So that's how he's going to try and play this,' _I returned the grin, trying to pull out my cocky attitude I had reserved for idiots all the while the memories returned to me, "You talking about the coward that ran with his tail between his legs? Puh-lease, don't kid yourself."

Zach glared at me. "Large talk for a guy who only won 'cause he played dirty."

_Oh yes_, this was all coming back to me quite nicely. "Playing dirty is still playing the game, isn't it? He should have seen it coming if he was so good." I noticed the professor jump from the corner of my eye.

Zach didn't look like he knew how to respond, but finally said. "Ya know, for a guy who looks all goody-two shoes, you sure are a dick."

If that was what it took for people to ignore me until I moved to Copper Canyon, I'd take it. "Didn't take you for a guy to give compliments."

He glared even harder at me, more than just saying "_I'm not,"_ with the amount of hatred in his eyes.

We didn't talk the rest of class. That was mainly because he forced the timid girl next to him to switch with him. He really didn't like me, didn't he?

Next class was English. I got up and out of the - _snort_ \- beanbag, grabbing my backpack as I left. Of course, going to the actual class wouldn't be as easy as it was for Geometry. '_Damn jocks.'_

"Is there a reason why we couldn't wait after school for this?" I held my hands in my pockets, keeping the three jocks in front of me from seeing the blue glow.

"We'd rather not wait to set the new punk straight." One of the large lugs - from Geometry, I noticed - cracked his knuckles in a poor attempt at intimidation. Maybe it just didn't work because I knew I was half alien and had access to super-alien powers. Who really knew.

"If the new kid doesn't want to be straight, don't force him!" Suddenly, there were new figures in the pseudo-ring we made - ones I had to blink again to process that they were really there. '_What's with the sudden entourage?'_

The lug almost immediately backed off, probably from both the new figures and from the sudden presence of phones in the area. "You'll regret that, _pal_." He spat and stormed off.

"Wow, were they going to fight?"

"Dude, this is so going on my story."

"Hey, who is that guy?"

Ignoring the crowd, I turned to the people in rainbow armbands. "Hey, uh, erm- thanks for that." Why is it so much easier for me to insult people instead of talking normally with them? It was seriously ridiculous.

One of them gave a large smile. "Sure thing, anytime! We stick up for people's rights to love whoever they want."

Pretty sure that _wasn't _what the bully was trying to do _at all_, but I wasn't about to correct them. "Again, thanks." Let them think what they want.

* * *

The bullies didn't touch me for the rest of the day, nor the week. While there were a few offhand insults, they weren't really serious because they would then immediately run off. Hell, even some girls got in on it. Gender equality, even with bullying.

In fact, _everyone_ left me alone. It was refreshing to just have 'my space' in the school. No one to both me

The less I had to interact like Max, the better it was for me to settle into… whatever _this_ was.

...But Molly clearly didn't feel the need to give me that space on a Saturday afternoon after work.

"Max, I've been told by the principal through an email that you almost got into a fight with another student _and_ have been by yourself throughout the week!" Her eyes narrowed on me lounging on the couch, '_Damnit, I just want to eat a salad and binge Netflix!'_

"And don't think I didn't notice you avoiding me." Her expression softened as she put down her work bag, "Maxwell, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Mom." '_Wow, that was wayyyyyyy too fast to be normal. Nice one, Ringquist. One for the books.' _"I'm fine." I said, trying to stare at the loading Netflix symbol on the screen.

Her stare was unrelenting. I winced.

"Okay, okay, I fought one of the bullies before today." I admitted. As expected, Molly was ready at the trigger, mouth already partially open, but I continued, memories surging in my mind, "One of them tried to con a younger kid into giving him their money. I… I couldn't stand that kind of bullying. Please try to understand."

Molly gave me a long hard look before sighing, "Alright, Max, I can understand that. But what I can't understand is your sudden _avoidance _of me. What did I do wrong Max?" Her eyes were tired and concerned. Clearly the late nights were taking a toll on her, and I was _not_ helping.

"Nothing!" I stood up, suddenly having the urge to wave my hands to accentuate, "I-I just didn't want you to know about, you know, the fights." I said as I sat down on the couch, hopefully looking remorseful as I turned back to the screen, "I know, it's stupid. I should have just told you about it from the beginning." '_Not really. God, this is exhausting.' _I sighed deeply.

Molly walked over to sit on the couch with me. I stubbornly held my gaze to the floor and head in my hands, even as she began speaking, "While that's exactly right, I know that won't make you feel any better about it."

Pausing, she gave a sigh, "You are so much like your father." Molly nudged my leg, "You know, your father talked about how he defeated his high school bullies." She said with mirth and endearment, "He was always such a hero."

"What… What was my father like? Did he look like me?" I asked, somewhat already knowing the answers, but still asking anyway. It was natural for a kid without a dad to ask.

Molly gave a pause, probably wondering just how much I should know, "He… He was loyal to a fault. Bravest man I have ever seen." I peeked from my hands to peer up at her face. It was full of love for the man she was talking about, "I watched the video of the almost-fight - "

'_There was a video?'_ I was so behind, "- and I saw how brave you were to stand up to that kid and hold your ground."

I was startled by the arm that reached around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I fought my instincts to push away from the embrace. '_I shouldn't-'_

I was even more off-guard by the words that followed.

"I'm really proud of you, Maxwell, for what you did."

I felt warm - like, really warm - at that.

Molly reminded me of my own mom, albeit more strict, but still had the same warmth to her. Maybe that was why I started to lean into the hug.

'_You know… This isn't bad at all.'_

This woman really cared for me. While I wasn't the same Max, she still clearly wanted me to do well. She… she loved me as her son.

For whatever reason, that made me feel at home again.

"I'm sorry for acting so weird, Mom."

It was satisfying to return that hug.

* * *

**Hey y'all. So since we're all in this Corona Virus situation, I thought I would just post all of the backed up 40 or so pages of You've Got the Wrong Max! as a way to get myself to do something and not just play Overwatch. **

**If even once person reads this story, I'd be happy, but even not, well, that's fine. It was just a little project to focus more on how Max's life would be if he got a head start on superheroing. Either way, I enjoyed writing it. :)**

**Jorkier.**


	4. Chapter 4

There were many things that I was terrible at before the "_change_"; basketball, softball, almost every sport with the word 'ball' at the end of it. I can even admit that and fully agree with it.

However, Volleyball was the one thing that came back to me like riding a bike.

It was intense - each team bound on the court to do anything they could _(within the rules)_ to smash that ball on the other side of the court. The best of the best could throw themselves across the court, covering everywhere their feet could possibly touch. It was riveting, even if I had the body of a platypus with breathing problems at the time.

Here, in this world, and in this body?

There was nothing on earth that could keep me away from that damn ball.

The enemy, high off the net, swung fast, causing the ball to leave his hands with a resounding clap. It was a good hit, all things considered.

However, it wasn't good enough.

With my height, I sent the ball flying back to their side off my block.

"And that's yet another point for the Jefferson Jaguars!"

The crowd went _ecstatic _at the announcers call, jeering and cheering from the school bleachers. It was enough noise to pretend I was in a concert instead of a volleyball match.

"Go get em', Max!"

"Block those fuckers!"

"Go Jaguars!"

It was 22:10 and the blue and white team on the other side looked positively drenched with sweat. On our side, it was almost the same, except for the soaring pride of team spirit that permeated the air.

"Nice one, Max!" Our middle, Leo slapped my back and smiled.

High off adrenaline, I grinned widely, "You too man."

That was all we had time for before the top ref gave the signal to serve.

We were off again, focused like none other.

Grover served. The other team barely recovered from his short serve, accidentally sending it over the net in perfect hitting range for our hitters.

Peter, our right side, shoved it down their throats easily, aim dead on between the right back and middle back passers.

The crowd was practically on fire with enthusiasm.

23:10.

Grover decided to do something absolutely ballsy and jump-served it. The ball just _barely_ crossed the net, rolling on it before dropping off on the enemy side. Our point, easy.

I was pretty sure I spotted some people already mouthing "Good Game" to the enemy team's spectators.

24:10. Final Game Point.

Grover served, this time a high easy serve for the enemy middle back (_I heard someone yell "The fuck, Grover?!" from the stands, but I wasn't certain who said it_). Suddenly hit by the realization of a comeback, the enemy team set up a perfect middle hit. Leo wasn't able to block the tip over his fingers. The ball fell.

Not on my _goddamn watch_.

My eyes flared alive with Turbo energy and I positively dashed towards the ball. Hell, it wasn't even my ball to take, but that was the last thing on my mind

"_Mine_!"

The ball was shot up.

Vince wasted no time to send Leo a fast middle set.

The middle lept and smashed it into the tiles.

The crowd came back to life with a chant, roaring. "_Jaguars! Jaguars! Jaguars! Jaguars!"_

It was a nice change from the mundanity of a school that taught me everything I already knew.

I got changed and headed out to meet my/Max's mom. "Hey, what did you think of that?" I said proudly as soon as I reached her.

The brunette did not look as cheerful as a mother whose son won their volleyball game. In fact, she looked… thoughtful.

I didn't like it.

"Heyyyy, Earth to Mom, you in there?" I said jokingly, recalling how terrible some of Max's jokes were in the show. Infact, it had been about a month since I 'woke up' as Max McGrath, and the school volleyball season was just ending because I came too late for the full shebang.

She visibly winced before realizing I was there. "Oh, I'm sorry Max. I've just been thinking a lot about work recently.

That didn't exactly sound the most truthful. "Okay then, if you say so. Let's get going."

This startled Mom- I mean Molly. "Don't you want to say goodbye to your friends?"

'_What friends?' _"I'm sure they'll be fine. Come on, I'm _dead tired!"_ I diverted, giving a big yawn for good measure.

Molly grinned. "Alright, Mr. Sleepyhead. We can go."

On the car trip back, I thought hard. '_Did she see me use turbo energy? I mean, there's not much that can get her so in thought like that. She's quite the multi-tasker. Thank you memories, by the way.'_

'_Where was I that obvious with them? At the end? Probably. I mean, it was a really close dig. Even on my best days that would have been a stretch-'_

I heard Molly gasp beside me, "No…"

Curious, I peered to where she was looking.

I froze.

It was a house starting to go on fire.

I was outside the car before I realized I had even left.

"Max!"

My mind was blank as I ran. All I knew was that _I_ _had to save them._

_Before it was too late_ _like Benny._

I crashed through a window, unminding of the shards of glass piercing my legs, as my arms were covered in a sweatshirt. '_Where are they?!'_

The fire crackling was deafeningly loud, shaking supports barely holding on as smoke filled the house. I covered my mouth with my sweatshirt hoodie, venturing onto the living room.

I was lucky, because the fire just seemed to have started from the lower levels, then engulfed the first floor.

A faint scream echoed from upstairs.

I shot up the stairs, turbo energy pulsating within me like a jackhammer. '_I need to find them-'_

The first thing I saw was flames licking the door of what seemed to be a child's room.

Not even minding to use the knob, I broke down the door with a fist of turbo energy.

A young girl screamed, the noise muffled through the covers of her bed.

Wasting no time, I pried her from her covers, the girl nothing but sobs at this point. I unzipped my jacket and covered her small body with as much of it as I could. The girl barely reacted at all, completely in shock.

"Hang on there." Was all I said before I hoped backwards out of her window, taking the full brunt of the glass. With both hands on the small girl, I coated us both in as much turbo energy as I could.

I hit the ground on both feet, using the energy to soften the blow to my legs.

The girl was transfixed by the strange blue light that covered me, so I had to snap her back to reality, "Hey, are your parents in there?" I had to cough a bit after from the smoke leaving the house and in my lungs.

The girl's eyes widened, "M-My dad is in there!" Before I could move, she latched onto my arm, tears in her eyes, "Sir, please save him too! I-I don't know what I would do without him, even if he is a b-big p-prick!"

I smiled from under my shirt hoodie, "I will."

She let go of my arm.

I took a turbo-charged leap into the other window on the back portion of their house. Almost immediately I spotted the man crouching under the smoke by the door. By the look of his hand, he had tried to open it earlier, but got burnt on the handle.

"Sir, I am here to take you to your daughter." I yelled over to him, fighting back the urge to cough in the thick blob of smoke forming at the ceiling.

The man heard me and turned to me with wide eyes. He practically sprinted me over in his appreciation, "Oh, thank you so much! I-I-"

There was a loud crackle and one of the ceiling boards fell down and through the floor. This shut the man up.

Just like I took out the daughter, I took out the father, landing gently in the backyard.

"Thank you for flying Air Max Steel and I hope you'll never need my services again!" I joked as I put him down.

The man gave a cry of joy at the sight of his daughter, both wrapping the other in a large hug.

"I-I will never ground you again, Laura!"

"I'm sorry I was - sniff! - a huge jerk, Papa! _I'm so sorry!"_

They gave _no fucks_ about the building behind them that was burning. '_Hope they have good insurance.'_

'_At least,'_ I thought with a smile, '_No one had to feel that kind of pain._'

I left the two crying and wailing as the sound of firetrucks and ambulances filled the night.


	5. Chapter 5

It was only then did I realize how screwed I was.

"What were you _doing?!_ I- When I said I was proud of your bravery, that did not give you the go-ahead to get yourself _almost_ _killed_!" Mom yelled as soon as I got back into the car.

"I jumped in there because I wanted to _help those people!_" I yelled back, exasperated. Fatigue slept into my muscules as the TURBO energy retreated, leaving me exhausted, both mentally and physically. Not to mention the newest battle scars I had across my legs.

"Let the _firefighters _and _police _handle it, Max! That's _their _job, not _yours!_" She said firmly.

I snorted, "Sure, let's all wait _10 minutes_ for the heroes to get here! I'm sure _no one will die _in the meantime!" I growled sarcastically, crossing my arms.

Molly was horrified, "Max, what on earth made you think that way?! They are trained _professionals _and - better yet! - _fireproof!_ You are _neither!_"

"I-" My eyes widened.

"No, Max, I refuse for you to do any more of this ever again!" Molly put her foot down.

I had no way of saying otherwise without saying that I knew a lot more than what "Maxwell McGrath" should know.

I huffed and slouched in my seat, "Fine." I barked.

It was a long, awkward ride home.

* * *

School was abuzz the next day.

"Hey, Gabby, did you hear about it?!" An excited student asked her friend as I entered through the doors, limping slightly and chest forward. The glass wounds still hurt like all hell, even if they were bandaged up. At least I didn't need a wheelchair for the shit I pulled.

"About what?"

"Look at this!"

Everywhere I went, there were students chatting about some video. I, while curious, wasn't about to care about something that didn't concern me. The news had never been my biggest concern before, and it wasn't now.

It wasn't until class started did I realize I needed to care.

"A-Alright everyone, settle down!" Professor Whoever said to no avail. It was his next words that caught my attention, "J-Just because there was a superhero spotting at some burning house, uh, doesn't mean we can't be fired u-up at school for learning!"

Yeah, everyone ignored the shitty pun.

Thankfully, I had Leo in my 1st hour class. "Hey, Leo, what the hell's he talking about?"

We weren't exactly friends, but we were close enough to talk at least somewhat.

Leo frowned. "You mean you didn't see it?"

"No shit, Sherlock. So what gives?"

The blond scoffed. "It's just as Prof. Poof said. Someone got a superhero on camera."

"...Huh." I said nonchalantly, even though I was mentally screaming on the inside. '_When did this happen?! No one was even around when I brought them outside, so how?!'_

'_Maybe… it's not me?'_

I quickly scoured the internet for this mysterious video.

When I found _**me**_ on the front news of National Television, I right about fainted.

"There have been myths of heroic people who have come to others aid using abnormal powers and strength since the beginning of ages, but now, for the _first time we have video proof of it!_ That video proof came from Sicily Redbean, a neighbor to those saved from a raging house fire."

I gawked. '_It was the neighbor?!'_

"She had recorded it from her window, which facing the back of burning house, where the super hero is visibly having gone up the stairs. Sicily then raced down to her fence, recording as the flames grew. Suddenly, they _jumped_ out of the window with a young girl, both covered in blue light. The superhero jumped back into the building again to save the father."

I knew when I saw the face of the smiling little girl that _everyone now knows what I did_.

It scared the _shit _out of me.

"This is an interview of Willow Brooke, the daughter that had been saved by this superhero."

A new interviewer's voice now. "Willow, what happened during the fire?"

"I was really scared when I smelled the smoke, so I hid under my covers." The girl's smile showed brightly on her face when she talked about _me_, "Mr. Max Steel took me out of the covers and brought me outside! He-He was so cool and was covered in light blue I think and-! "

"Wait, so this hero introduced him to you as Max Steel?"

"I think, yeah. It was when he saved papa. He said something about flying 'Air Max Steel', so I thought that was his name. Oh, _oh_!" Her eyes lit up like a thousand fireworks, "Can I say how thanks-ful I am to Max Steel on here?!"

"Heh, sure thing kiddo." The interviewer chuckled.

The girl gave a happy little jig on camera, "Thank you, Max Steel! 'Is 'cause of you, me and papa are safe! As momma once said, 'muchaschas grace-ias!'"

I was going to be impaled on so many proverbial spears when I got home because there was _no fucking way_ mom wouldn't see this.

She knew I had rushed into a burning house, just like 'Max Steel' did.

She knew I saved people, just like 'Max Steel' did.

She knew I had jumped through windows, just like 'Max Steel' did because _she fucking treated my wounds._

I was dead.

Oh _so_ _very_ dead.

* * *

Just as I was expecting and dreading, Molly found out. Her look told me so, along with the fact that she was _home early from work _ and that _never happens._

She was waiting at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in her hand and a tablet in the other.

Newspapers with _me_ on the main cover littered the table.

"Care to explain, Maxwell McGrath?"

I violently winced. '_Was the full name really necessary?'_

"Um, I, uh, saved some people?" All my confidence shot out the window faster than I ever could.

"With _superpowers?"_

"_Yes?"_ I squeaked, 100% ready to duck and cover at the drop of a beat.

Instead, surprisingly, Molly sighed, "...I …I should have known this would happen sooner or later. I was just hoping it would happen later."

"You-you knew about my powers?!" Both a great deal of acting and shock that I wasn't going to be grounded into next year exploded into that one sentence.

"Yes, Max… I did." Molly looked off to the side, a far away look in her eyes, "I… wish I could tell you how, but I can't."

"Is- is this something to do with T.H.I.?" I said with the horror of a child who thought he was experimented on like all good superheroes were, "_I-I'm not-_"

"Oh _god no!_" Molly exclaimed, hastily backtracking as fast as she could. "No, this has _nothing_ to do with T.H.I., I _promise_."

"Then what's happening to me?"

"... I can't tell you that." She said like the good faithful spy she was.

As I already knew what my powers were and, to be honest with myself, didn't want to form a rift between me and Mom, I said this. "...Could you help me with my… uh… powers? I honestly have no idea what I'm doing." I admitted, diverting from the past of them to what I could do with them.

Molly looked like she _really wanted to tell me_, but stopped herself. Instead she said, "I… I know even less than you do about your 'powers.' Im sorry Max."

_'That has got to be the biggest lie I have ever heard. Dear god woman, you were married to a fucking alien!' _

"O-oh…"

Gotta love guilt-tripping your mother through saying nothing and acting depressed. What a day to be alive.

"So… why the name Max Steel?" She moved to grab a newspaper on the table.

Suddenly the tension in the air was so potent I could cut a knife through it.

"Um, it was actually more of an inside joke than anything else."

It _was _true. When I said the joke, it was completely an inside joke. I didn't even think either of the two were listening at the time, too overjoyed to, you know, _not be fried chicken?_

Yeah, I had no clue I would be known as "Max Steel" this early on.

_'Hell, why did I even do that in the first place?'_ I was no hero. I was a coward who couldn't even have a regular conversation with any of his classmates without swearing or insulting them.

_'Was it guilt for not saving Benny in time?'_

The thought... made me want to throw up.

"An inside joke huh…" Molly muttered, deep in thought, her eyes showing her dive deep into past memories.

Unlike her, I did not want to be in this uncomfortable atmosphere anymore.

"...I'm going to my room."

She didn't stop me.


	6. Chapter 6

It was difficult to find any distractions online that wasn't talking about me. Once I got past the absolute annoyance of being found out a year early, I got thinking.

Since I was most likely going to _be_ Max Steel in the future (as the T.U.R.B.O Energy overload was impossible to stop from what I could assume), why not get ahead of the game and make some social media accounts for it? After all, almost the entire 2nd season was focused on his fame.

Almost every possible variation of "Max Steel" was already taken, much to my chagrin. It made sense - everyone wanted to get in on this new Superhero. Hell, there were people actively trying to find out where I am and exactly who I am. I was just grateful there were no videos of me sprinting into the house like a madman.

One username, however, worked.

And UltraRealMaxSteel was born.

Honestly, I was tempted to post something on it, as stupid as that would have been. Why give fuel to the flame when the fame could just die away easily? It would be better for me and my mom if I didn't.

So I did the logical thing and didn't post anything.

What? I'm a _superhero_, not _stupid_.

In the Max Steel universe, it was 2013; part of the era of technology. It would have been _stupidly easy_ to hack my account with the mediocre security I had on my phone. Sorry; not for another couple years until I was actually Max Steel and Facebook actually gave a fuck about hacking.

I had an account for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, since I knew they would be the main communication bases for the future. '_Sorry SquareSpace. You shall be missed. I think.'_

All I had to do was wait until we moved to Copper Canyon and not do any more Max Steel stuff.

* * *

Looking back, I laughed at my stupidity.

Yeah, like the universe would be that good to me. I was practically _asking_ for it.

Within the first week of my mental declaration, a girl was drowning in the river next to where I jogged every day. The hoodie came out and Max Steel saved the day.

Max McGrath went home, wet and sick.

The next week, my bank was held hostage while I was still in it. Again, Max Steel saved the day.

Max McGrath came home and laughed at the new Max Steel memes that were circulating the internet as his Mom treated his bullet wounds.

By the 3rd week, I had my hoodie in my bag, just waiting for shit to hit the fan.

It did hit, almost predictably, and Max Steel saved another family from a house fire _just down the street from the first one._

Max McGrath came home, thoroughly miffed at the universe.

Molly McGrath just sighed when she saw the burnt state of her son, putting away her coffee for the First Aid kit at the sight.

"Mom, I swear to God I'm not looking for danger!" I said, ignoring the playing of the newest video of my back on the television. "I am legitimately trying to avoid stuff like this from happening! I even changed my jogging route and I _still_ found someone trying to rob a store!" I wailed, running my hands through my brown hair; one of many nervous ticks I have been discovering for the past month, "_Oh my god whyyyyyyyy._"

Molly just let me vent (like the amazing mom she was) as she cleaned the newest burns I had gotten along my right arm. When I had finally settled down, only then did she speak. "You're such a trouble magnet, Max." She said, clearly amused.

"I wish I wasn't." I grumbled.

"You know, you should have a mask for being a hero."

I blinked. Was… was she _encouraging me to be a hero?_ Honestly disturbed, I gave her a confused stare. "Who are you and what did you do with my mom?"

Mom grinned. "Max, I'm not against you being a hero anymore." She gave my hair a ruffle, "I'm just… worried. Worried you'll continue to get hurt like this." She frowned.

Now it was my turn to frown, but in confusion instead, "What? What about that whole, '_You're not fireproof nor bulletproof,'_ argument-"

"That was before I knew you had these powers." She said, like it explained everything.

Flabbergasted, I continued, "I'm _still _neither of those things, even with my powers. Why-"

"Max." Mom cut me off seriously, "I am trusting you to be able to save those people and yourself. Why are you so against that?"

"I'm not a-" I stammered, "I'm no hero! Just some suicidal kid with balls of steel!" I yelled, balling my hands into fists.

Mom gave me an amused look. "Isn't that what all heroes are?"

I... I literally had no retort to that.

"Max, I think you're a hero. You've been doing so much for people you don't even know, all the while worrying about what _I_ would say, as if that would stop you." Mom smiled, a happy light dancing in her eyes."You're certainly a hero to me."

I was pretty sure I was going to combust from all the conflicting feelings I had.

I was speechless.

And crying. That too.

Mom laughed lightly. "Get over here, Hero." I eagerly leapt into her hug, sobbing my eyes out.

_I'm so thankful for this woman._

* * *

The next morning, I couldn't stop thinking about masks.

What design would it have? It didn't have to really be anything. I could just say screw it and buy the nearest Hobby Lobby's black mask and just go with that.

There was no way in hell I would wear spandex, nor dress like an animal. That would just be embarrassing.

So, I turned to the Max Steel forums.

It surprised me when I realized that no one had ever thought of Max Steel's design. Everyone on the site either made cringey fanfiction, talked about how they wish they had superpowers, or had questions they would want to ask me. It made sense because the site itself was rather small, with nearly a non-existent fanbase. Making an account (as UltraRealMaxSteel of course), I made a new forum discussion post.

**Q: What would Max Steel's Superhero outfit be?**

It was kinda stupid, but I didn't really have any other choice. I would really only do crappy sketches of original designs before. I wouldn't trust myself with an outfit design at all..

In the description, I made sure to include this for incentive.

**Q: What would Max Steel's Superhero outfit be?**

_Description: I'm talking like a real outfit that could look really cool while not being too cheesy for being a superhero. The best one might even make it to his attention lol._

If no one answered, I really didn't have a problem with it. In a few years I'd be having my own suit anyway and I could just stick to the hoodie mask idea until then.

I closed off the site and quickly forgot about it in favor for the nightly jog Mom recently allowed me to have. No, it wasn't _patrolling_, shut up.

I brought my hoodie, though. Just in case.

* * *

Of course, on that jog a muggler tried to rob me. I stopped him from embarrassing himself further with a punch to the gut that knocked him out. The entire rest of the jog was spent getting to the police station and dropping him off as Max Steel.

Hurray for no sleep.

I slept through most of my classes, which, for the most part, was completely fine, as I had Prof. Poof for most of it and knew everything already. Mrs. Simpet from history tried to embarrass me by waking me up and quizzing me.

Yeah, you probably figured the dumpster fire that turned out to be. She had tried, I'd give her that.

It was both a good and bad school day overall.

When I got to volleyball practice, however, Coach Brucheck was pretty determined to make it a terrible day.

"Today we will be working on your speed." Cue whining from the C team, "This will drastically help your game and tell us just how fast you can move your feet."

All of this I was completely okay with, up until he mentioned the competitive side of it.

"This will be a relay race." Coach walked down the line of boys, easily shutting up C team, "You will be in teams of 4. The team who finishes passing their baton to each of their teammates wins."

'_Oh god, it's even team based!'_

Here's the thing about me; I'm competitive. Like, insanely competitive. Almost-cry-if-I-lose competitive.

That, mixed with TURBO energy, makes self-control extraordinary hard for me.

I was screwed three ways to Wednesday.

"Everyone pick your teams."

Leo was at my side in a heartbeat. I looked over at him and we nodded. We may not be close friends, but we still knew we were some of the best in the room and worked well together. We were Varsity for a reason.

The rest of Varsity spread out, the seniors and juniors sticking to their own crowd, leaving the disorganized sophomores to pick a side. One of them came up to us.

I immediately recognized the kid as Fin, the setter for Junior Varsity.

"I wanna win, so I want to join your group." The sophomore told us freshmen.

I looked at Leo. He shrugged, "Why the hell not?"

"I'm game, I guess." I said.

"Fin! I thought we were going to be in a team?" A sophomore with a gay pride band on his arm came up to our group of three with an uncomfortable grin on his face, as if we would shun him away.

Fin looked back to the sophomore, "Want to be our fourth member, Peter?" He offered.

Peter smiled widely, "Sure!" He chirped.

We waited a bit for Coach to tell us what to do. In the meanwhile, I noticed Peter peer over at me, then quickly look away. I could tell he wanted to tell me something, but I didn't know what.

Coach interrupted me before I could ask, "Alright everyone, line up! You'll be running around our rectangular running track, with each of your members in line to grab the baton at the starting line. If you drop it, you'll have to start again at the last corner you ran past."

I gave a quiet sigh to myself, '_That makes things… A bit easier.'_

"Choose who will be first and we'll start this up!"

Almost everyone in the group looked at me.

I blinked. "What? Me?"

"Yep." Leo said. Fin and Peter bobbed their heads in agreement.

I shrugged "A-Alright then." As long as the TURBO energy stayed off, I should be fine. Besides, I was the first one to go.

Before I was ready, everyone was lined up, serious looks on their faces appearing as the Coach held up his whistle.

"Ready? 3…" Please no. "2…" Where's a crime when you need one?! "1…"

We were off at the sound of the whistle, my heart caged in my chest.

A junior had taken the lead.

'_Oh __**hell **__fucking no!'_

I pushed myself hard. However, nothing seemed like enough. The little fucker kept getting further away!

'_Wouldn't it be great to be ahead by not just a slight bit, but by across the track?'_ The thought riled me up. I could feel the familiar strength of TURBO energy through my legs. It was so close-

It turned out, I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't realize I had passed the junior already.

My teammates' cheers were the only thing that brought me out of my head.

"Max, here!"

"Go Max!"

I passed off the baton, relieved to have not needed to use the energy in the end, "Go get em Leo!"

Leo gave a slight thumbs up to us.

In the end, we had gotten 2nd place. The senior team ended up winning because of their inherent advantage. Before I even had the chance to truly be upset about it, Peter said he wanted to talk with me after practice for some reason. He didn't say what it was about.

I was concerned somewhat that this was either a bullying attempt on me or blackmailing the poor kid into doing something stupid. The bullies hadn't done anything to me outside of some small stuff that didn't require description, but that was it. No confrontation or anything. It was bound to happen someday, I knew.

After we changed out of our volleyball stuff, Peter brought me to our English Classroom. Nothing _felt_ out of place, but I had reasons to be suspicious. It wasn't too far fetched for me to run into trouble with how my month had been so far.

Peter sat on one of the desks, twiddling his thumbs. "So, um, I wanted to ask you something." He admitted.

Already not liking where this was going, I glanced at the door, "About what?"

"It's, uh, kinda been something _everyone_'s been wondering about," He scratched the back of his head nervously, "and, um, I was, heh, kinda forced to be the one to ask."

I narrowed my eyes, "Peter, is someone blackmailing you into-"

"What?! No!" Peter cried, waving his arms wildly, "No, not at all! Um, the question is-"

I was ready for the "are you Max Steel?" or the "will you meet me behind the school at blah blah blah" kind of question.

Not this.

"Are you, uh, homosexual?"

He stared at me.

I blinked once.

Then twice.

"What? _That's_ what you were going to ask about?" I said in shock. And to think I was so ready to pummel this kid if he asked the wrong question! '_Thank god for normal drama!'_ "Peter, no, I am not homosexual. What made everyone think that?"

Peter blushed in embarrassment, "W-well, I dunno why exactly. Everyone just saw h-how you only talked to L-Leo and, uh, I think made the wrong assumption."

"Clearly." I said, mainly to myself. It was probably when the LGTQIA+ people defended me from the bullies. I never really thought that over until now.

'_Wait, did they defend me because they thought I was gay?'_ I thought with a chuckle, '_They probably made the assumption from what the bully said! Is that why the bullies had been leaving me alone till now?'_

I appreciated it, but no, I was not gay. '_However, if I don't get confronted by the bullies, the less of a chance they'll have to see my TURBO energy and correctly think I'm Max Steel.'_

'_...Huh, so I guess Max McGrath is gay now.'_

"Actually, _Peter_," I almost purred his name. I was so fucking giddy to have found my bully problem I could almost kiss him! '_You know what? Fuck it.'_

The sophomore yelped as I quickly dragged him into a full body hug, making sure to drawl my words, "Thank you for letting me realize what I've been feeling until now." The poor boy was a pool of confusion, literally putty in my hands as I gave his cheek a light smooch. "I appreciate it."

I then left, happier than I had been in years for a problem I didn't realize had solved itself!

I didn't realize Peter was staring at me in excited disbelief, right about to phone literally everyone he knew that the local hunk was available.

* * *

**I am not interested in the same sex. Max, right now, isn't really gay either. That's not to say being gay is wrong. I used it as a plot point and a way to show that Max doesn't really know people or what they think of him. In fact, this is kind of similar to me. It wasn't until a year later did my best friends think I was gay just by how confident I was, and when I found out I couldn't help but laugh. It was even funnier because both of them had a history of being gay or bisexual when they told me.**

**Yeah, I'm pretty oblivious. XD**

**Sexuality doesn't really play a bigger part in this story other than showing one of Max's character flaws, so if you don't like it, don't worry. **

**-Jorkier.**


	7. Chapter 7

I came back home, elated and with my feet barely touching the ground. I could even feel my eyes glow somewhat with TURBO energy.

This, of course, immediately caught my Mom's attention.

"What's got you so happy, Mr. Hero?" She said at the grill, making something that smelled absolutely _delicious_.

"I just fixed a problem at school!" I chirped, bounding up the stairs. "Gotta do something, bye!"

"Dinner's in 30!"

"'Kay!" I yelled back as I skipped over to my computer in the corner of the room.

It loaded up, my forum question from this morning printed across the top. Surprisingly, it got far more views and replies than I expected.

**Q: What would Max Steel's Superhero outfit be?** (By UltraRealMaxSteel)

_Description: I'm talking like a real outfit that could look really cool while not being too cheesy for being a superhero. The best one might even make it to his attention lol._

**You max steel?!**

A: AnnaCat43 _\- Superhero Fanatic -_

_Do you know Max Steel or something?! 'Cause that's what I'm hearing! Owo_

There were a few more posts like this, which I ignored. Those weren't important. Maybe I'd answer them later.

**White Maybe?**

A: TorySellerBestBoi _\- lover of stories-_

_Maybe something white? I don't really like how so many superheroes wear black or bright colors other than white._

_I dunno, just spitting out ideas here._

**Re:White Maybe?**

A: LucidDreaming512 _\- Still High-_

_ohh! tat would lok good with light blue kid of color_

_hehehe_

Surprisingly enough, there were a number of people who liked this white/light blue combo and even drew it as an outfit! Hell, there was even someone who made a legit full on outfit! In fucking 10 hours!

**White and Blue for You**

A: CostumeAndCosplay _\- Professional Designer and Cosplayer-_

_I came up with this as soon as I saw the post. :3 I'm really proud of it, so I hope Max Steel sees it!_

There was a picture too. It was of an older woman dressed in a white and blue outfit clearly meant for a man instead. It was simple, but so my style.

I loved it.

First was a light gray mask with highlights of blue that really reminded me of the Max Steel outfit from the show. It had a light blue baggy hoodie with the insides colored white. The pants were a light gray with white boots as a finish.

There were other comments on the reply saying how people were so impressed with it, but since I was the creator of the post, mine was the easiest to see.

**Re:White and Blue for You**

A:UltraRealMaxSteel _-Yep, I'm the real deal - _(Creator of Post)

_Wow, this looks freakin' amazing! What are your prices for the outfit, if you were to make it for real? I'd be willing to just get the mask too._

The women must have really been someone who lives on the site, because I immediately got a reply back.

**Re:Re:White and Blue for You**

A: CostumeAndCosplay _\- Professional Designer and Cosplayer-_

_For Max Steel himself, or just a fan?_

It made sense she was cautious, but I _needed that fucking mask_. My "secret" identity relied on it.

**Re:Re:Re:White and Blue for You**

A:UltraRealMaxSteel _-Yep, I'm the real deal - _(Creator of Post)

_I think I'm the true blue Max Steel, but that's pretty hard to prove on here. Need proof?_

It was amusing when about 4 other people answered for Costume before she got the chance.

_Hell yeah we do!_

_Proof! Proof! Proof!_

_There's no way he's real. No way!_

_Show us!_

"Jeesh, impatient." I tsk'ed, already getting prepped to go on a nightly 'jog' as Costume answered.

**Re:Re:White and Blue for You**

A: CostumeAndCosplay _\- Professional Designer and Cosplayer-_

_Do I have to say yes, or is it implied from the name of the site?_

I gave a bark of laughter at that one. What snark!

In record time, I darted out the door with my phone, barely even giving enough time to tell Mom where I was going.

Fully dressed in some sweats, my -now- iconic sweatshirt, and some shoes, (which was technically my hero costume now. I know, sad) I fully welcomed the growing blue light that engulfed my legs as I ran.

I had an idea for this particular shot, and it would be _sweet_.

I only stopped when I reached the middle of nowhere, which, in all honesty, wasn't all that far from civilization. When I could no longer see any buildings on the horizon, I prepped my camera and my hoodie for what was probably going to be the largest use of TURBO energy I used to date.

All for one stupid fucking photo.

One that I would come to regret immensely. Not that I knew that now.

I gathered that alien energy into my legs and around my body that would hopefully let me land safely.

In an instant, I jumped, the TURBO energy propelling me into the air and high into the sky. When I felt the familiar tug of gravity on me once more, I grabbed out my camera and took about a quadrillion pictures, with me holding my hoodie over my most of my face the entire time.

I landed with a loud BOOM, the debris and dirt scattering everywhere.

It didn't hurt nearly as much as it sounded, trust me.

I did get a shit ton of dirt in my mouth when I tried to breathe though. That was nasty.

When I finally resurfaced, I looked down and laughed wildly.

'_D-Did I make a __**crater **__in my shape?!' _

I would have laughed more, had it not been for the strange noises I heard from above. Almost… like a _plane_.

My laughter choked in my throat.

'_Fuck, that's THI.'_

Even before the planes deployed their ground troops, I was up and out of my man-sized crater, running for dear life in some random direction.

'_Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit-'_ I completely forgot about the picture, which was understandable with the robots that were now shooting at me.

"Don't you guys need me alive or something?!" I howled, dodging what I could. A blast clipped me on the shoulder. _"Motherfucking fucker!"_

I needed more TURBO Energy and-

'_Wait a minute. Is… is that how they found me?'_

Was the amount I had used before enough for the THI sensors to go off like in the show? Was I close enough to _blow up?!_

I reached into my TURBO reserves and jolted to the realization that it was hard to feel the end of it, even with the small slice I took before from before with that jump.

'_Day… what's the date today?_' I mentally panicked, unconsciously giving off more TURBO energy '_Holy shit I have to check.'_

Honestly, I had no idea what the hell I was doing at the time, so bringing out my phone seemed like the most logical thing to do.

The fucking thing shorted out with a pitiful puff of gray smoke.

'_Are you shitting me-' _

A droid nicked me on the _other_ shoulder with a shot, reminding me of their presence.

Before I could go home, I first had to deal with the Vehicon rip-offs so they didn't track me.

Yay.

I whipped around, this time running at them with eyes glowing and fists bright blue.

The first fell when my fist broke through its chest armor, then the next three from me chucking the first fucker into them. Clearly they weren't programmed to deal with this kind of situation and couldn't get up at all.

I systematically ate through the robot's numbers, crunching them with empowered fists and kicks that they were not designed to handle. They all fell.

Of course, I wasn't without my scars from the ordeal.

I felt the blood roll down my shoulders as I fought, but could only focus on the fight or I would have most likely died to these guys. I wasn't wearing armor like the Max Steel from the show did. One shot to the chest and I was pretty much _dead_.

However, my recent experience from dealing with people from robbers to muggers to rapists helped immensely with this fight. They usually had guns or something, so I learned to project a light layer of TURBO energy that would slow down bullets or knifes. It wasn't a full-on shield, but it was certainly something.

Standing over the robot corpses, I looked up.

The planes looked back.

Then opened fire.

"Looks like I'll have to destroy you too then, _huh_?!"

They were still low enough for me to reach their top with a TURBO powered leap. Aviation knowledge from a different world came to my attention.

I grinned.

Then tore of a wing and bounded over to the next one to do the same.

At this height from the ground, whatever was piloting these things would most certainly die.

Five downed planes later and I was home free.

...And also very free to realize _just how much I fucked up the plot._


	8. Chapter 8

"Max, we're moving tomorrow."

Yep, plot was definitely gone. "Why?" I gasped. Wow, I had no clue! _Sarcasm._

Molly spared me a look before passing me my bacon and eggs,."I just got a new job offering at the Copper Canyon main THI building." Her smile was strained in a way that only happened when she had something she didn't want to say.

'_Sure, lets all pretend it wasn't because of me that we're moving.'_

"Oh… Okay."

Now everything I did yesterday was effectively worthless. My plans were thrown out because of one goddamn picture.

'_Story of my fucking life.'_ I thought, stomping up the stairs to my room. '_I guess I won't have to worry about bullies anymore. And just after I found the solution too.'_

A twinge of pain from my hard yank on my door handle reminded me of the battle scars Mom patched up the day before. '_Ouch.'_

As most teens my age would do after experiencing simmering frustration, I turned to my computer for relief.

I blinked in surprise at the appearance of the forum I left open.

There were many more replies - some more designs that I didn't like as much as the first. Apparently word spread fast because I now had about a thousand friend requests and several requests to DM me.

There were some unique questions than from before. '_What's your favorite shoe brand?'_ I right about gaped at seeing this one.

**superhero shoes?**

A: DigiBroFisttheFirst _\- pewdiepiebestyoutuber4ever-_

_whats ur fav shoe brand? mine;s nike! :D:DDDD_

Just for the hell of it, I replied with, "_The non-flammable type."_

The reply blew up just like everything else I posted. Some people even recommended me fire-proof boots!

Deciding I had enough with the stupidity, I returned to my new favorite designer, "_CostumeAndCosplay"._

I sent a DM request.

She (assumedly) accepted in a heartbeat, much to my amusement, '_Wow, she really lives on this site, doesn't she?'_

* * *

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _r u really Mx Steeal?!_

I snorted.

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _I dunno who this Mx Steeal guy is. He my cousin?_

I posted the picture of me in the sky. Thank God for my connected Cloud account otherwise the photo would've gone up in smoke like my phone did.

_'...Guess I'm gonna need a new phone sometime in the future.'_

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _This proof enough?_

I could really only imagine her reaction, but I was sure it was slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _IFHwaijnjnfeiwonfwnfwniowfwsadlmaw_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__t is u!_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__omg soph will fckin freak_

'_I guess I would also have a panic attack if I met a goddamn real life superhero online.'_ I came to a realization before groaning, '_...Shit, people are going to freak out every time they meet me, aren't they?'_

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _im so sorry i've just been having a realy bad day and this just totaly made it beter!_

I admit… that brought a smile to my face.

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _I'm glad I could do that for you. :)_

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _Not to be mean or interrupt the moment or anything, but I really liked the costume you designed for me. I was wondering if I could buy something like it._

Within seconds she replied.

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _Yeah! Yeah, totally._

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__I mean, I made the outfit design purely for my size. I had no idea that YOU would see it._

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__God, soph will freak when I tell her I met __**the Max Steel**_ _on a fan forum_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__So I don't think I'll be able to really make one for you unless I know_

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _uh_

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _your specs_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **_ _I could make the mask though!_

It… made sense. This person probably had other shit to do than to cater to some stranger, like having a job that 15-almost 16 year old me doesn't have.

'_...Wow, I'm really young aren't I?'_

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _That sounds great. :)_

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _What's the price you want for it and where will you leave it so I can pick it up?_

'_Whoever you are, __**please**_ _don't be outside the United States.'_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__If you want it to be_

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _uh_

_**CostumeAndCosplay:**_ _non-flammable_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__then about 35 dollars and it'll take a few months. I live in Copper Canyon_

'_Thank __**GOD**__.'_

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **_ _here's my address._

Then she gave me, a random _stranger_ I might add, her _fucking address_.

'_How in the hell does she trust me so goddamn much already?! We talked __**twice!**_'

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__Does that sound okay with you, Mr. Steel?_

_**UltraRealMaxSteel:**_ _I'll think about it. The distance won't be an issue and the price is actually lower than I expected. It all depends on the timing of a few things on my part._

_**CostumeAndCosplay: **__Ah, alright! Thanks for even talking with me! My life is complete! :D_

* * *

The plot was coming.

_And I was fucking terrified. _

I had no clue if there would be any changes from the original series because of what I'd done. I mean, there was one very obvious one in particular.

We were moving one year too early.

'_Damnit Molly!'_ I seethed.

Molly McGrath was _specifically_ an _**N-Tek **__fucking agent_ _and I had forgotten that like a __**dumbass**__._

I rubbed my head in my palms, the running water beside me doing nothing to help my mood.

Out of all the things I could have forgotten about the plot, _this was the most important_.

N-Tek most likely discovered my large usage of power last night if THI was able to and, because they knew I was James McGrath's _son_, they _already knew _I was the one behind it. To keep me close like they did in the series, they _used Molly_ to bring me to their home city.

I thought it was _brilliant _the first time, but now it's just _fucking annoying._

"Urgh!"

Dark red bricks crumpled under the crushing force of my bright blue fist, leaving a crater in the bridge. I was too angry to care, huffing and glaring at the bottom of the bridge.

It was unreasonable to be angry at her, really. She was worried about me, if the glances I caught on the way out the door recently were any indication. Us moving, to her, was the straight-forward thing to do. Moving to Copper Canyon meant that we would - in her eyes - find a way to regulate the power that killed Max's father. Sorry, I mean _my _father.

That didn't mean I wasn't royally _pissed off. _

This was a jump in a direction I didn't want right now - actually, _never_ wanted.

'_God, I'm such an idiot,'_ I fought back the urge to just outright destroy the bridge at the thought, '_Of goddamn __**course**_ _using __**bright blue**_ _powers would be easy to spot and __**of course **__I had to pretend to be a hero when I can barely save my own life.'_

I shouldn't have used my TURBO energy to begin with, but _damn my curiosity and stupidity._

There was a flash of brown out of the corner of my eye.

I leaped as soon I realised it was human.

Powered by TURBO energy, I latched onto the small figure, covering them with my body as we were launched to the other side of the river. I glanced at our landing spot and winced.

'_Shit, this is gonna hurt.'_

Cement parted in the way of my super powered feet, my knees almost buckling from the opposing force. Thankfully, we came to a stop before anything truly broke.

"Phew." I sighed in relief, "Hey, you okay kid?" Then I looked down.

I saw a positively ecstatic brat look back up at me.

'_Here comes the regret train.'_ Thank god I actually grabbed a Hobby Lobby mask the day before, otherwise this kid would have seen my face.

"OH MY GOD IT REALLY IS YOU!" The brat was practically hyperventilating in my arms, "I KNEW IT I KNEW IT! AS SOON AS I SAW YOU UNDER THE BRIDGE I KNEW IT WAS YOU!" His smile was large and unable to be contained, a broken tooth easy to see from my position. My half-grimace was hidden under my mask.

"SAMMY!" Two figured thundered down the steps leading to where we were with all the force of distraught parents who thought their child was dead. '_He will be soon with the shit he pulled.'_

As soon as they saw us, the aura of absolute panic turned into one of relief, "_OH MY GOD SAMMY YOU'RE OKAY!" _The mother cried, drowning out the father who probably screamed something similar.

I set down the kid, but he didn't budge an inch at the sight of his parents, his gaze stuck, unfortunately, to me, "Are you Max Steel?! Oh my god, oh my god!" He tugged insistently on my trademark hoodie, much to my chagrin.

"Yes I am." I snipped. I was _not _in the mood to deal with this shit right now. "Now go back to your parents and never," I emphasized, pushing a finger lightly on the boy's chest, "and I repeat, _**ever **_do that again."

My deepened voice and frigid tone seemed to do _nothing to this damn kid!_

"What's your favorite color?! Wait, _duh_, it's _blue_. What's your favorite marvel hero?!" He asked excitedly, ignoring literally everything I said and the existence of his parents, "I have _sooo_ many questions I-"

"_Kid_, be quiet."

He froze.

'_**Now **__he pays attention?! Are you shitting me?'_

"I never want you to _purposely fall off a bridge_ _ever again._" I told him as I ruffled his hair, "_Please_, don't risk _your life _over something so _stupid_ as meeting me." By this time, the stupid kid had tears forming in his eyes, so I hesitantly -_very hesitantly-_ gave him a hug. "It's not worth it and will never be worth it, 'kay?"

"O-Okay." He muttered into my hoodie.

His parents went silent a while ago, hopeful and happy looks in their eyes. After what I thought was a good amount of time for a hug, I pushed him back to them. The parents proceeded to start crying while both scolding and hugging their child.

And for me? Well, I got the hell out of there.


	9. Chapter 9

Thankfully, that wasn't the last crime Max Steel stopped in Jefferson City before he moved. No, that privilege was given to the dumbasses who tried to rob him on the way back to his house. Seriously, did they live under a rock? Was the bright fucking blue sweatshirt not a big enough clue to who I was?

Yeah, by the time I was leaving Jefferson, I had amassed (_somehow_) quite the popular following. There was now 'Max Steel' merch in every other store I passed, little boys playing with 'Max Steel' figurines (by the way, I _do not _have muscles that rival Bruce Lee's like the toy companies seem to think) and the 'Max Steel' forum page had _sky-rocketed_ in popularity.

Yeah, my forum post past a million views a while ago. I didn't even want to check it now.

At least _CostumeandCosplay_ was doing well enough, from what she told me. Her work had been receiving much more attention and now she was actually able to make cosplay full time for gaming companies instead of her boring pharmaceutical job. It felt nice to help her out like that, even though I had no idea it would happen.

Looking outside of the truck, I grimaced slightly at the sight of what was supposed to be me on the side of a restaurant advertising their food. '_Dear god, what the hell.'_ I thought, exasperated beyond all belief. '_This is getting out of hand. I hope it fades out soon.'_

My mom, noticing my expression, grinned, "What, you don't like seeing your face everywhere, _Mr. Steel_?"

I groaned, eyes closed, "_God_, not you too."

chuckled. "This is what you get, Mr. Hero Man."

"Don't remind me." I huffed.

"You know," I did not like where she was leading this, "your cousin is a _super fan_ of _Max Steel..._"

I completed the sentence in my head. '_Oh hell no!' _"No."

Molly grinned teasingly. "But _Maxxx_, Will would _love _to meet you-"

"_Mommmmm, I swear to god I will __**flip **__the car."_ My face kept going deeper into my hands, the whining unable to be avoided, "I _hate _that brat!"

I could hear the frown in Mom's voice, "Max, that isn't very nice of you to say. Will is a very... _nice _kid." She said hesitantly.

"Maybe when you're around." I muttered. Sometimes I wish I didn't have Max's memories. Maybe I'd never know about the family Christmas of 2004. '_Cue shudder.'_ "I just don't like him." I said a bit louder.

Mom paused before shrugging. "Alright then."

Somehow I got the impression that she didn't like him either, but it was probably just my imagination.

* * *

It was the exact same apartment from the original series.

I wasn't sure if I was relieved or distressed at the sight of it.

"This the place?" I asked hesitantly, looking up at the apartment. Was it too late to rewind time?

Mom frowned slightly, swiping the key to the main apartment lobby, "Max, you don't like it?"

"Well... I haven't quite seen what's inside yet." I said, following her inside.

Molly smiled as we were lifted in the elevator. Our apartment was on the highest level.

The apartment size we got was… actually _different _from the plot.

The rooms were bigger. The kitchen led into the living room like in the series and there _was_ a balcony, but there were _far _more rooms and space than what I remembered. In fact, it all felt like our apartment took up half the entire top floor.

I was blown away.

"Uh, mom?" I asked, peering into the apartment with a bewildered look on my face, "You sure this is the right number?" I felt like I was trespassing onto some kind of rich flat, except it didn't have any gold chandeliers or anything like that. It was just _huge_.

"Of course it is," Molly seemed to not be fazed when she entered the living room.

"B-but it's like twice as big as our other house!" I stuttered, stuck at the door.

"I recently got a promotion at the Copper Canyon THI building for my previous work." She gave me a very happy and very much faked smile.

I _almost_ called her out for her bullshit, but I refrained.

The money boost was most definitely N-Tech's doing. THI was notoriously stingy with their promotions if the internet had anything to say about it.

"Okay then." I decided to tuck that thought away for now, "So, where's my room? I wanna get my computer inside before it starts to rain."

Molly placed the small box she carried in on the counter, "Oh, if you go to the far end of the hallway, it should be to your right."

"Gotcha."

My room, as I discovered, was just as surprisingly large as the living room. In fact, there was already a computer inside the room before I brought in mine, as well as a punching bag and boxing gloves in the far right hand corner.

I was not amused

'_Stop trying to get on my good side, N-Tech.'_ I shook my head, far too used to the feeling of someone trying to suck up to you. I was a _superhero_ _for fucks sake. _

"Mom! There's still stuff in here!"

"Must've been from the previous tenants. It's yours now!"

She gave that answer _way_ too quickly. '_100% N-Tech.'_

I sighed. Whatever, I'd use the N-Tech computer (which was a light green color _coughN-Techcough_) for school work instead of whatever the hell superhero work they'd thought I do with it. How do superheroes even _work_ online?

As for the punching bag… Eh, I guess I did need to work out, sadly enough. The volleyball season (which shall be greatly missed) at Jefferson wasn't exactly a good testing ground for my strength as I would usually skimp out and use small fractions of TURBO energy. Jogging was easily done with TURBO energy as well. Hey, _you _get handed infinite alien energy and see how fast _you _get lazy!

The punching bag would be good to keep (_somewhat_) in shape.

'_Ehhhhhhhhhh….'_

On the subject of N-Tech, an idea sprouted in my mind.

I looked around the room curiously. "TURBO energy can short out electronics... right?" I muttered to myself.

It was then my hunt for N-Tech bugs began.

I found three in my desk, one on top of the punching bag, four in my closet (_ew, what the hell N-Tech)_, and only one in my bathroom. With tiny bursts of TURBO energy, each of the tiny microphones gave a crackle, then fizzed as I shorted each one out.

Unlike the Max inside of the original series, I had _much_ more control over my TURBO energy. It wanted to run rampant through my veins but, as someone who literally just woke up to this not even a year ago, I was pretty conscious of it. '_I wonder if this is how chakra feels like.'_ I thought.

The only reason why my phone had shorted out before was because I was using a large amount of TURBO energy at the time with the bots. '_Hopefully it won't happen again with my new phone…'_ I grimaced, remembering the price. '_That certainly put a dent in my allowance. I should really get a job, if N-Tech won't pay me.'_

"Max, dinner's ready!"

My frown disappeared as I walked to my door. "What, did you get Indian takeout?" I teased.

I heard my mom scoff. "Ha ha, Max, really funny." As I turned the corner, I was met with her smug grin, "I actually got _Chinese _take-out this time."

"The _Indian _was because the _grill _was broken, so what'd you break for you to get _Chinese_?" I smirked.

Mom gave a huff that sounded both amused and exasperated. "Max, just because I get _takeout _doesn't mean something's _broken_." She said dryly as she sorted out what was mine and what was hers.

A wide smile appeared on my face at the sight of curried chicken. Apparently me and Max both had the same great taste in Chinese food.

"Will you be going on patrol tonight?" Mom asked. She shifted a little in her seat, even though she was smiling. Her facial expression didn't meet her eyes one bit.

I glanced at the clock. "...Maybe. I don't know." I gave a tired sigh, flicking my fork at a tiny piece of chicken. "We just got here and I want to relax, but…" I trailed off, my previous experiences as Max Steel dancing in front of my eyes. People were stupid, and I could save them from their stupidity with my patrolling.

But it would be risky as all hell.

Copper Canyon was the home city of THI and N-Tec and both were companies I didn't quite know how to deal with yet. In the plot, Max would almost explode with TURBO energy in the city, then be escorted by N-Tech to - unintentionally - meet Steel. However, if there was one thing I remembered from the episode, it was that THI _also_ detected the TURBO energy.

I could _not_ deal with Miles Dredd right now. With the way I was… He might _actually _make me into a TURBO battery…

A violent shiver rippled down my spine.

Before I could… "_handle_" Dredd, I'd need Steel, and for Steel, I'd need to _explode_.

That… Just… _No._

I did not want to explode. Unlike how I act, I am a completely normal human being (or, at least, have a completely normal human 'soul') and, like every other human out there, have a sense of self-preservation _(most of the time_).

The problem was that I needed Steel to _officially_ become Max Steel and, according to plot, I'll explode one day _anyway_ because I accumulate TURBO energy like a power plant, so I'll end up needing Steel anyway.

Trust me, I'm panicking my ass off in my head here, I just don't want to put you through the same kind of mental hell that I am experiencing.

"Max? Max, are you okay?" A waving hand in front of my eyes brought me back to reality, "Max, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"A-ah, y-yeah, I'm okay. Just a little dizzy." I lied, putting my hand to my head.

Molly seemed to have started to calm down. "Well, good, otherwise I would've had to resort to extreme measures." She smiled, an evil glint in her eyes.

I frowned, confused. "What _extre-"_ Then I remembered. "_Okay_, making me do the _Ice Bucket Challenge_ to wake me up is _NOT_ something a mom should do!" I growled, shivering.

Her stupid smile remained. "_I don't know_, it was _pretty effective."_

"_MOM! THE FUCK?!_"


	10. Chapter 10

Today was my first day of school at Copper Canyon High.

Superhero or not, I was sweating _bullets._

"Max?" I flinched at her voice. "Max, I realise you're nervous, but you have to go so I can get to work." Mom said with a hint of impatience, tapping her watch. Her eyes held some sympathy, but apparently not enough to let me go at this slowly.

"A-Ah, yeah. I'll be going then." I stuttered, taking a step out of the car.

Mom drove off, leaving me with the many loud sounds of noisy high school students.

'_God, why me?'_

* * *

Things went smoothly enough at first. I got my schedule and my locker, then shoved all my stuff inside, taking along only my backpack. I _would_ wear my "suit" underneath, but the thing was, people would recognise the _damn sweatshirt _almost immediately for being related to Max Steel.

Something I'd rather not have people connect the dots to quite yet.

Walking down the halls of the school, I was put-off by how… _normal_ it was. No shady science labs, no bloody janitor closets, nothing. It almost reminded me of the Elementary School Max went to, as strange as that was. Not quite superhero series material like I expected.

I peered down at my schedule. My first hour was Geometry. I'd be behind, but I doubt it would be hard for me to remember my previous life's Geometry class.

I took a seat (in the back, of course), almost anticipating the arrival of some character from the plot to appear and give me hell.

...No one came, however. I was chill with that.

"Good morning class!"

The teacher seemed to be a young and enthusiastic African American woman with black hair and a pep in her step.

"...Good morning, Miss Luchester."

...As expected, the class was less than enthused to be at school.

"Today, we have a new student!" I gave a subtle wince, "Max, could you come and introduce yourself?"

"Sure." I walked to the front of the class, trying to look as average as humanly (_HA!)_ possible. My eyes met each of my classmates as I spoke, "Hi, I'm Max McGrath. I just transferred from Jefferson High School. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

A few students gave me curious looks.

'_Maybe being polite was too much.' _

"Thank you Max, you can return to your seat."

She then immediately started to lecture and, like magic, half the class fell asleep.

* * *

About half way through the lesson, I felt a prod to my shoulder. I turned, expecting a bully to talk smack to me, but it was an athletic looking blonde girl. "H-hey, uh, do you play sports?"

I blinked. "Um, yeah. I play volleyball."

The blond gave a near silent 'whoop!', then turned back to the lecture.

'_The fuck?'_

I felt _another_ prod. '_What's with these people and prodding?!'_

This time it was a guy and he was… blushing? '_What in the goddamn hell is going on here?!'_ "C-can I get your number?"

"No." I turned back to the teacher, missing the way the boy visibly wilted. '_Okay, so maybe this school is weirder than I thought. What is with these people?'_

'_Why would that girl ask if I played sports? Did she know about my volleyball career?'_ I was oblivious - I knew that much. I didn't know the _civilian_ me was all that popular.

I never thought Max looked all that handsome, but I never really had anyway of finding that out through others. The only person I really "talked" with in my last school was Leo and even then it was very little. I would just stick to myself and sleep through all my classes because of my nightly endeavours.

I never thought not knowing others' thoughts about me would annoy me so much until now.

* * *

An eternity later, and the bell rang for my next class. I set aside my shitty doodle of Mrs. Credit's face and lugged my backpack over to Chemistry. Apparently, since the size of the school's freshmen was so large, we were split into two different groups for different classes. I had the same people from Geometry for half of the school classes, then the other half for the rest of them. It seemed needlessly complex, but school was school.

Walking down the hall, I visibly froze, causing a large backlog of students.

Sydney Gardner stared at me back, appearing just as surprised as I was.

'_What.'_

She whipped around and disappeared into the crowd.

I was speechless until some dick pushed me into a locker with a clang.

"_Oops_, _sorry_, didn't see you there." Jeering laughter followed.

...I'd like to say that I handled the situation well, but I really didn't.

I met the asshole's eyes with my own slightly glowing blue ones. "Wanna do that again, fucker?"

Absolute _silence_ followed.

The best part was that _Butch_ was the one who pushed me.

The teen flinched, some of his cowardice showing through before his 'bully face' reappeared. "_Someone_'s got balls." He smirked, as did all his lackeys, apparently thinking I didn't have the courage to back up my claim. _Ha._ "I bet you can't do jack shit with those noodle arms of yours."

The massing crowd around us 'ooh'ed.

'_Bitch, please.'_ "It's really impressive that you're flexible enough to have _your foot in your mouth _and _your head in your ass _at the same time. Might wanna get that checked though, because I heard its only a condition dipshits and fucking losers have."

Butch looked like winter came early he froze so hard while everyone (even hislackeys) roared.

"_Fuckin' roasted!"_

"_Hot damn!"_

"_This man needs some ice-packs for that goddamn burn!"_

Butch did what every reasonable and embarrased human would do and tried to punch me, "_Fucker!"_ He seethed.

I dodged, of course, but what really stopped Butch in his tracks was the one person that had stopped me in mine moments earlier.

_Sydney_.

"_Jesus_ Butch, haven't you met your dumbass quota enough for today? Just _stop_."

Butch was looking like Sydney kicked his puppy and everyone else was gobsmacked for some reason.

Sydney herself went pink and dove back into the crowd that swallowed her whole.

"_Damn_." I whistled after her.

The crowd came alive in chatter, allowing Butch to slink off with his damaged pride. I was just mildly amused. '_Who knew she had it in her?'_

* * *

Everyone after that, fortunately, left me alone. I didn't like crowds or talking anyway.

I did, however, notice that I had Sydney in my Chemistry class. We were across from each other on each side of the room.

As soon as the class began, I expertly sent a paper note right to her desk with a small flick of TURBO energy. '_God I love being alien.'_

The poor girl visibly recoiled at the appearance of the note. I saw her whip her head around in confusion, probably wondering where it came from.

I made sure to avoid her gaze, pretending to care about amino acids.

She pried open the note, reading my shaky scrawl of '_Nice job with Butch.'_

I felt her look at me, so I wrote down my first notes of the day.

There was humanly possible way I could have sent that so far away, so I figured she would just pass it off as one of the overlookers.

However, when I glanced quickly over at her, she was still looking at me, a determined look on her face. '_The fuck?'_

First she froze in the hallway, and now she keeps looking at me?

Either this Sydney was a real creeper, or she _fucking knew something_.

I _really_ hoped she was just a creeper, as weird as that sounds.

The bell rang and I right about sprinted out the door.

Thus began the game of "_Avoid-Sydney-Like-The-Plague"_.


	11. Chapter 11

Since volleyball season was over (sad, I know), I actually had free-time to think how exactly I would do my superheroing in Copper Canyon.

I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but it was risky (like everything else in Copper Canyon) and would require a _helluva_ lot of luck. As in '_pass-me-the-wishbone' _kind of luck.

If it didn't work… well, I'd be on quite a few people's shitlist, with most of those people being the good guys.

'_Fuck it.'_

I wasn't _obligated_ to help people right now, so the mysterious Max Steel would be going on hiatus for a while before. '_Maybe I should tell people that…'_

My "UltraRealMaxSteel" twitter account had gotten a small amount of attention after the whole forum post incident. It wouldn't really _hurt_, per say, to post _something _to let people know. After all, I was the only "_superhero_" this side of the galaxy at the moment, so I doubt people would forget me so easily.

Personally, I really liked the egg, okay? Don't hate. I realize it has nothing to do with "MaxSteel", but fuck you.

I wondered if people would even notice this account. '_Nah, probably not.'_

Sighing, I fell back on my bed.

'_This is going to be a hard couple of days.'_

* * *

To be completely honest, I felt weird about avoiding Sydney.

It was almost as if she was _letting_ me avoid her because she did not try to talk to me _once._ The sideways glances were strange enough as it was.

If I wasn't in the body of a superhero main character, I would have felt bad. However, since she was _technically _the _love interest_ of the _main character_, and _I_ was _technically_ the _main character_, I figured my actions made logical sense.

Oh, and I ran into Kirby in the halls. For some reason all my conflicts happen in the hallways.

He was also high off his ass, which somehow made sense with his character.

"_Uh_, sooorry girl. _Heh_." He hiccuped as I helped him off the floor.

"First of all, not a girl, and second of all, being high in school is ballsy as hell man." I said, giving him a deadpan look.

Kirby just gave a chuckle, looking at the ceiling fans spin with fascination. "_Woahhh…"_

I was very uncomfortable under the many stares I got as I carried Kirby to the nurse's office.

People _definently_ thought I was gay now.

_Finally_, nighttime arrived.

I noticed for a while now that Molly normally disappeared on the 3rd Monday night of every month. She wouldn't say where she was going, which was always strange to me because she was quite the chatty catty about her day. For however stoic she appeared, she loved her mother-son bonding time something _fierce_.

I didn't bother to wear my Max Steel sweatshirt. She already knew who I was, so it didn't make sense to. I wore all black, which would hopefully help me blend into the night.

I brought the minimum that I could, as what I needed to do really only required what I could do by myself. A screwdriver, flashlight, and a small container of water were the only things to come with me.

When I heard the garage open at 4 in the morning, I knew it was my time to go. I sprinted out of my bed and out the open window, where I saw Molly pulling out of the garage. I lept to the ground and, encouraged by a little TURBO energy, I followed Molly on foot. I had about 2 hours before the sun would rise, so I had to follow as closely as I possibly could, discreetly running on buildings next to her.

I was forced to follow farther away when she split off of the road, but I refuse to let that stop me.

Finally, the mystery organization revealed itself to us in all it's annoying green glory as rock split apart into the canyon.

I smirked.

'_It's showtime, N-Tech.'_

* * *

I slipped around the canyon that held the headquarters, a different entrance point in mind.

As the building was underground and everyone could breathe normally from what I saw from the show, N-Tech needed one little thing.

Air vents.

As I climbed the side, hands wrapped in TURBO energy to knock out any sensors, I felt a slight draft. '_Bingo.'_

At the time of planning this, I had forgotten I wasn't a 4 foot nerd anymore. Looking at the small entrance, I dragged my hand down the side of my face with a sigh. '_I never thought I would want to be small again.'_ I looked down again, '_Say la vi.'_

I yanked the entrance out and barely managed to fit. Right as my feet passed through, I heard an ominous mechanical whirl. I went pale as a ghost.

'_Oh shit, I forgot they had turrets. Jesus, how am I this lucky right now?'_ I stilled my racing heart as I squeezed through the vents.

The first exit was, unsurprisingly, a dark janitor's closet.

I popped the vent exit out, dropped down and looked around.

The first thing I noticed was the huge goddamn droid staring right at me.

I screamed and lept back, thinking I was busted by the robot. Unfortunately, a bucket filled with water was right behind me, and I slammed back into the wall. "_Jesus_!"

Yeah, subtly is not my forte.

I froze, expecting guards to burst into the closet and shoot me on sight or the offline droid to suddenly come online.

10 seconds.

50 seconds..

1 minute and 30 seconds…

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

To say I was confused was an understatement.

'_Do they not have guards or something?'_ I thought, but doubted it. '_What is going on?'_

The janitor's closet had an electrical lock that I easily shorted out. The door hissed open, revealing a dark hallway.

Before I moved, I heard rushing footsteps. My dread grew and my praying skyrocketed, '_God, I know I curse a lot, but please, just this one time, don't let them find me! I'm too young to go to ja-'_

The footsteps passed me.

"God, another door shorted out from this surge. What the hell even happened to cause this blackout?" A soldier said, panting slightly as the two jogged by.

"N-No clue! Everything w-was fine o-one moment, t-then it wasn't!" A more timid voice answered. They finished rounding the corner and leaving me alone in the closet.

They were having a blackout? What could have caused- '_Oh shit, that was me, wasn't it?'_

I wasn't religious, but there was no other way I was this lucky right now, "Thanks God." I whispered, slipping out of the closet and sprinting down the hall as quietly as I could.

I honestly didn't think I was even going to get this far, so right now I had no idea what I was doing.

I felt a sweat drop slip down my face. "Steel, where the _hell_ are you?" I hissed to myself.

As time went on, I was getting more and more stressed. I felt my TURBO energy thrum under my skin louder and louder with every turn I took, every guard I dodged, and every room I broke into. Every encounter was getting to be more and more of a close call. The last one I barely managed to get out of the way before a patrol turned the corner.

'_Why the hell is N-Tech such a fucking maze?! I've already been here!'_ I right about punched in the smiling cat poster that I passed for the 3rd time.

I instinctively knew I was running out of time. The TURBO energy in the system, I had discovered, was somewhat connected to me while it was in the system. I knew it was dissipating fast with every second that passed by.

I was going to get found out if I didn't find Steel.

'_Shitshitshitshitshit-'_ Prayers weren't working, my brain wasn't working, and even my fucking _alien powers_ weren't _goddamn working!_

Then I realized something.

My arms were bright blue with TURBO energy.

"_No!_ Shit! Goddamnit!" At the sight of my eventual ticking time bomb, my stress levels reached a whole new level. I was panicking my _ass_ _off_. "_Fuck fuck fuc-"_

"Human, you are about to overload."

There was no mystical, time-stopping TURBO bubble, but even then I was still infinitely relieved. "Hey, I'm Max. Uh- could you _please_ _unbomb me_? I'd _really_ appreciate it." I waved my glowing blue arm at the silver alien boomerang that appeared in front of me.

Steel did not look amused. "By 'unbomb', I would assume you would like me to stop your TURBO detonation-"

The blue TURBO circle of doom was about to appear and I _really_ didn't want to blow up.

"_Please."_

He was still looking a little miffed (_for an alien)_ when he agreed. "Fine. Now hold still, Max the human."

It was almost instantaneous for a process I knew would change my entire world.

By the time the flash of bright blue was over, I felt like I was wearing a second skin. I looked down, almost gaping in awe at the gorgeous design of the one and only true Max Steel.

That I now was.

I was tempted to pinch myself to see if this was all real and not just a very_, very_ drunken dream.

The helmet smoothly slid over my view, displaying about 20 different displays I had no idea in hell how to read. _:Now then, Human, I believe it is time for us to flee.:_

As if it wasn't weird enough to hear Steel in my _fucking head_, I jerked as I felt my limbs almost fall under Steel's control. "Woah, _hey hey hey!_ Do you even know where the hell you're going to go?" I hissed, cradling an arm to my chest.

_:I-:_ Steel paused. I heard a patrol coming so I slid into another room. _:My memory core is… damaged? I-I cannot recall this place, but- I can?:_ Somehow, I got a mental image of him tapping his 'chin' in deep thought, _:This makes no sense.:_

"Tin can, we should probably take this conversation somewhere else." I knocked my knuckles against the Steel symbol on my chest.

_:I am a techno-organic lifeform, not made of your earth's simplistic tin material!:_ Right. Like I cared. _:...Although, I suppose you are right. Do you have a plan in mind?:_

I peered over my shoulder and through the glass before ducking down again so the patrol wouldn't see me, "Not _really_." I admitted, "In all honesty, I'm not even supposed to be here right now."

_:Another thing to add to the 'talk-later' pile. Got it.:_

"You catch on quick."

_:If you do not have a solution to our problem, I might have something that will help:_

"Like what?"

_:Call it a 'Mode' if you will.:_ He sounded proud.

I looked up again. More guards. "Is it flashy?" I asked quietly from against the wall between me and the N-Tech guards.

_:...More than I would like, yes, it is 'flashy'.:_ Steel admitted with a huff, having caught on to our situation.

"Fantastic." I murmured. I paused. '_Well, it's worth a try.'_ "Can you- uh - get off of me? They won't expect a human kid."

Steel gave a metallic sigh, _:Sadly, no. This 'solution' to your little exploding problem is quite permanent.:_

"So I'll have to look like something that walked straight out of a comic book for the rest of my life. Brilliant." I mumbled sarcastically. As if I wasn't caged in enough with all the shit I was pulling right now, that little detail skipped my mind.

_:...Hold on a nanosecond. I think I might have a Mode for that.:_

"Again, is it flashy?"

_:Not as much as the others are. Quick, offline one of the guards and drag them in here.:_

"...I hope this works or we're gonna be in deeper shit than we already are." I said, slipping into the corner with the stealth of a ninja.

_:What does animal secretion have to do with this?:_ The alien sounded genuinely confused.

I was going to reply, but a group of three just came into my hearing range, stoically silent around the corner. I found, to my delight, that my senses were enhanced much more than expected.

They turned the corner.

I froze like a statue as they past, half-expecting them to notice the slight sheen of my armor off their flashlights. Thankfully, they didn't (which was kind of stupid, as I am a _bright fucking white and blue alien_) and continued past me.

That's when I made my move.

I lept into action, sweeping a leg under the rearward guard, who collapsed with a yelp.

"What the-?! Intruder!" The other two whipped around, flashlights directly in my eyes.

"Shit-!" I froze. However, before I could be made into swiss cheese, Steel took over. He made me brute charge the right one to the floor, then barely dodged the 3rd soldier's bullets by jumping away.

The man barely had enough time to say, "Oh fu-" before he was served a beautiful right hook by yours truly.

Before the other two could get back up, I quickly knocked them out, then dragged them into the janitor's closet.

'_Feels weird fighting what are technically the good guys.'_ Sure, Ferrus was going to lecture me, but I could claim I had no clue what I was doing.

"So, what exactly do you need with these guys?" I asked, kicking one of the soldiers for almost shooting me. He'd bruise for sure.

_:Give me a moment.:_ With a small flash of blue, Steel left his place from my chest. He hovered over the suits we pulled from the soldiers. A blue line of blue crossed over all of them.

'_Oh, I forgot he could scan outfits. He only did it once at the very beginning of the series.' _I watched, fascinated.

"Here, let's try this." He slammed back into place unexpectedly. _:Camo Mode: Engaging.:_

I took a set back in response, "Really, a warning wouldn't hurt- _holy fuck that feels fucking weird!"_

It felt as if the second skin I was _just getting comfortable with_ was suddenly ripped apart and knitted back together. What made it even _stranger_ was the feeling of vulnerability between the two parts of the process. It felt as if I went outside in my boxers in the middle of winter for about 10 seconds before _something_ pulled me back together in reality.

I scrambled to get the helmet _that I was suddenly wearing_ off before I threw up the chicken I had for dinner.

_:Your systems can't handle the rush?:_ Smug bastard.

When I finally got back my ability to talk, I growled, "If I wasn't attached at the hip with you, I would melt you for spare parts."

_:That's too bad, isn't it?:_

I could see why he and Max didn't get along very well at the beginning. I wanted to _strangle him_.

_:Anyway, now we have a way to escape. I'll leave the steering to you, as you know how to interact with these humans.:_

"Okay, _your highness."_ I muttered, grabbing the helmet and putting it back on, "This stuff better be convincing or we're both dead meat."

_:I am a techno-organic-:_

"Shut up Sparky."

* * *

**Finally Steel! Woot woot!**

**Sorry it took so long to get to this little sassy tin can, but my muse is like a cat. It sometimes shows me something awesome or cute, but most of the time it sleeps. **

***Weakly fist pumps* Yay.**

**I don't know when I'll update again. I'm a perfectionist, which is the reason why it took ****_forever_**** and a****_ half_**** to actually post this. **

**However, for all my perfectionist ways, if I get ideas, I tend to write almost to the point of insomnia. Which, yes, is not healthy, but so is McDonalds, so hush.**

**Hope ya'll stay safe in this pandemic!**

**Jorkier.**


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